Rockford aldermen weigh how to handle slot machine boom

ROCKFORD — A small building with peeling white paint and large glass windows sits empty at the corner of Charles Street and St. Louis Avenue.

From the outside, it may look like any other vacant structure along the southeast Rockford business strip. But for city officials, it’s become a microcosm of a larger debate on how to handle the slot machine boom.

With the City Council’s blessing, a pair of Cherry Valley restaurateurs will pour an estimated $250,000 into rehabbing the building to make it a combination coffee house and gaming parlor with separate entrances and outdoor seating for the java shop.

As enticing as new business development may sound, several aldermen have larger concerns about the number of slot machines they feel are saturating the city. Caesar’s Place Coffee and Slots, 2320 Charles St., would be the city’s 81st business that has video gambling — 22 have added gaming since January — and is located on a block that already has two other establishments with gambling, Slots of Fun and the private Navy Club of Rockford.

The proposal reignited debate on the council floor on everything from rules about distance between gaming facilities, signs and whether to put a cap on the total number in town.

“I do understand Rockford’s concerns,” said Phil Salamone, who plans to run the business with his twin brother, Benny. “Whatever they decided to do, I hope they take into consideration that we’re improving the city by spending a couple hundred thousand dollars to make this into a brand new building.”

The revenue from slot machines helps make a costly redevelopment project feasible, Salamone said. He emphasized that they are serious about the coffee side of the business and already had designs drawn by an architect.

Controlling gaming

The city’s only means to control the number of slot parlors is through its liquor license application. The state can issue gaming permits to businesses that have a permit to sell alcohol. Some aldermen have started to vote against any new businesses with slots, but deciding who gets a liquor license has been based on aldermen’s judgment rather than any defined guidelines. Several aldermen have said it’s time to start defining what those rules should be.

Ald. Joseph Chiarelli, who leads the city’s Code and Regulation committee, wants to bring the Caesar’s proposal before the council for a vote Monday. In the coming weeks, he hopes to bring the whole council together for a broader discussion on how to regulate gaming in the city.

Finding common ground among aldermen, who have a range of opinions about how much gambling should be allowed, may prove difficult. The previous City Council tried to establish some rules, but couldn’t reach a consensus.

Ald. Tom McNamara said he won’t vote for any new business to get a liquor license if the majority of their revenue comes from slots.

“I see them draining dollars from our community that we need for other shopping centers and I don’t buy the argument that that money is going to leave us anyway,” McNamara said.

Rockford gamblers have lost a combined $11.9 million at video gambling machines from Jan. 1 through the end of July.

“I am opposed to the video gambling ordinance because of the amount of money it’s taking out of this community and out of the pockets of the people who can least afford it,” Ald. Frank Beach said. “It’s counterproductive ... especially when we’re trying to transform this community and help people break any poverty cycle that’s there and help people get back up on their feet.”

McNamara also wants the city to reconsider how it spends the tax revenue from gaming, which generated nearly $600,000 for the city so far this year. That money is spent on capital purchases, but McNamara said the city should consider using it for economic development purposes. Or, it could dedicate a portion to Rockford Promise, a mission to provide scholarships to every Rockford high school graduate, he said.

Sign changes

McNamara and Ald. Kevin Frost are among several who want to limit the way gaming parlors can display their signs.

“They’re everywhere,” Frost said. “I’m not opposed to drinking or gambling, per se, but I’m just so sick and tired of seeing the signage everywhere.”

Signs for slots around town has been negatively described by some as “Potterville,” a reference to the dystopian city in the 1946 Christmas classic “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

“It just doesn’t give folks a good vibe when they drive into Rockford,” Frost said.

Help for small businesses

The advent of gaming in Rockford helped save neighborhood bars that struggled financially because of the recession and increasing competition from chain restaurants, said Jay Gesner, who owns four businesses with gaming machines.

“In my opinion, these things are keeping a lot of money in town that would go to Elgin, or Ho-Chunk or another casino,” Gesner said. “All these people didn’t start gambling because we opened parlors. It’s just that we brought it more local and we’re keeping tax money local.”

While aldermen contemplate their next moves on video gaming across the city, neighboring businesses and residents wait to see what will be decided for Caeser’s. A pair of residents that spoke to the Register Star from an apartment complex that neighbors the proposed business said they’re concerned additional slots would only increase poverty and invite crime into the neighborhood. Jeff Antinucci, manager of Charles Street Shoe Repair, said he’s more concerned about the liquor than slots. Allowing Caeser’s would make it the fifth business that sells alcohol in a two-block area, he said.

“It’s too concentrated,” he said.

He said he’s already seen public drunkenness on several occasions.

“We had a guy a couple weeks ago passed out over here on the sidewalk on a Friday afternoon,” Antinucci said. “The police weren’t able to respond because they were so busy.”

Two other Charles Street business owners — Jane Femminella of The Canine Crunchery and Skyler Davis of Culture Shock — said they’re pleased to see the building redeveloped into a new business.

“It will give people another reason to stop in this Charles Street corridor,” Femminella said. “I’m excited about that. It’s going to beautify this area.”

Aldermen could decide as soon as Monday whether they think Caesar’s will benefit the Charles Street area or if the district already has its fill of slot machines.